"You give them something to eat!"

In this circumstance with Sarah, Jen and I, it may seem like we don't have much to give. We should be worried about ourselves, putting ourselves first in everything. It's okay, I guess, to think this way. But we've felt there is another way to think about things. It could seem like all we have to give in this situation is five loaves of bread and two fish; as if that wasn't enough. Well, it's kind of true, that about sums it up. But I'm realizing with the little we have WITH God, it sometimes is too much! We have more than we need for ourselves and our five loaves and two fish can feed a multitude of folks. He's saying we have an abundance, so we can give it all away. We can give it to Jesus. We can open up our hearts and care about not only ourselves, but others too. And that's how it's been feeling lately since Sarah has arrived. We have more than enough for ourselves. We have so much to give. "Look at Jesus and the Father... What do we not have?!" Our hearts are also saying: "Let's give it away." God is very gracious. He's teaching us to be the same way. He is continuing to teach us how to position our lives and lay down our perspectives and ways of approaching life and healing, so that not only we are fed but those around us. When He breaks the bread of our lives, everyone gets to eat.

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ in me."

God showed me a picture in my heart yesterday while I was praying with Jen. I saw a cross in my heart, with the front of my heart wide open, allowing anyone looking to see in. I felt God speaking that there is a cross in us. God is drawing people to it. That cross in us takes the pain of the world upon it. Jesus took it all from us. He took all the pain, the hurt, the sin, the sickness, the disease, He took it all so that we could be free. So it is. And the work was a complete one. You can add nothing to it. We are free. The problem is so many of us are not seeing that fully realized in our lives, to see it come to full expression in our experience. Positionally it's done, but experienctially most of us are still in progress. That would describe Jen and I...and Sarah too. So this is the jist of what I was hearing yesterday as an insight into healing. This is by no means a complete picture of my theology of healing - it's only an aspect of healing I felt Him revealing to me. This is the beginning of a meditation on a aspect of healing I'm still processing. So this is not a complete thought - I'm simply journaling what I'm hearing. May it bless you...

By us opening our hearts to care for people, the cross in our hearts become visible. The power of the cross and all that it represents is present to heal. The people in pain see their freedom when they are allowed to look into our hearts and see the cross and the freedom we have. The cross to Jesus symbolized death, but to us it is not a symbol of death but rather a symbol of life. It represents so many things, but the one I felt God emphasizing here was the one of "freedom through love". The cross is a symbol of our freedom. When people are allowed to look into our hearts they are able to see life not death. And when they see our freedom through an open heart, they are seeing Jesus, they are seeing the Father, they are seeing the power of the cross in our lives, that is also available to them.

"It is no longer I who live but Christ in me." It's like what Jesus said to Phillip about seeing the Father in Him: "He who has seen Me has seen the Father..." And then following: "Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me..."

For people to see the Father in Jesus, Jesus had to open His heart. How else would they see the Father without looking "into" Him, "into" His heart? The walls had to be out of the way. This openness of heart Jesus lived in was the way in which He was to reveal the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit. He said to Phillip if you don't believe Me, and can't see the Father this way, "... believe on account of the works themselves." His "works", and His words were also ways in which He was revealing the Father. There are others. But what I felt God emphasizing to me was the way His openness of heart revealed the Father. His open heart was a key to a lifestyle of living and abiding in the Holy Spirit and the kingdom and seeing healings and miracles of every kind. For us it's the same. We are to allow people to see "into" us who is dwelling there. Something happens when they do. Something is available to them if we will. Not only are miracles available to them but they are to see Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, and the resulting freedom and healing that's accessible to them. I feel that's why God showed me a cross visible in my heart. When they see the cross in our hearts, they see the heart of God. It's a revelation of love for them. It speaks to a life laid down for their sake. That's what they saw in Jesus even before He gave His life on the cross. They saw that the cross was already alive in His heart. He had already given His life for them. The cross confirmed outwardly to the world an inward reality that was already true. That's partly why people followed Him. No one lived that way. Everyone was out for their own interests not those of others. Our hearts and lives are to reflect that same truth. Paul said it like this when he saw this same kind of heart come alive in Timothy.

"For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. For they seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus."

"... no longer I who live but Christ in me." People are looking for a love that is about them, that is for them, that chooses them, that takes the time to care and accept them, that cares about their pain and helps them to get free. People want to see that kind of heart in us that was so visible in Jesus. When we live open to people's pain to care for their pain, the cross of Jesus is made available to them through us. And what they see draws them to us, just like it drew them to Jesus. When we open our hearts not only are they drawn to us, but God draws near to them. The spiritual atmosphere begins to change in that moment over them concerning the problem they face as we allow compassion to flow through us. We can see in any situation the Spirit of God about to turn water into wine, "the Word into flesh", ashes blown into worship, depression into joy, and pain into peace. We simply have to learn how to love and take the risk of opening our hearts to care and to love. By doing so we give that person an opportunity for an encounter with a living God who gave his life to them on a cross so that they would be free.

Jesus wants us to open our hearts to them and care about what they are struggling with. He says: "You give them something to eat." And like in the feeding of the thousands, Jesus heals the people because He "felt compassion for them healing their sick." We are to do the same. Compassion is a heart opening up to care. Out of it flows healing. But something else was happening in the hearts of His disciples, in those who were with Him. Somehow the hearts of His disciples were not understanding the heart of God for the multitude. Who knows why? But it's clear to see one thing Jesus is showing us through this story. There was a heart condition in His followers that needed to be lovingly confronted and changed.

This is what was in their hearts concerning the people. This is what they said: "The place is desolate, and the time is already past; so send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves."

Jesus responded by saying: "They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!"

Jesus turns it back to them, telling them to be apart of the answer to the people's problem. It's simple, we bring what we have to Jesus and He multiplies what we can give, but first we must be willing to give. What's being spoke of here isn't only about multiplying food. I believe what Jesus is showing us and is looking for is more than believing for a miracle and faith to do that. He's looking at the heart, looking for love. He's looking into them to see what's there. And what He sees is confronted, "They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!"

In other words He said, "How 'bout you open your heart to care. Sending people away is not the answer. Closing your heart to their needs is not the answer. I want you to do something about it. I want you to give them something. I want you to open your heart. I'm here with you. What you lack in caring for them all, I will make up the difference. For I have more than enough to go around. I just need you to care about them. Get your heart repositioned and let the love flow. Give me what you have and I'll increase it. If you'll do that, they will see me. What you do is a reflection of me, as what I do reflects on the Father. I'm here with you. Open to them and give to them what you have so that I may give to them my abundance, all that's been made available to you and to them through my life."

"He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave to the multitudes, and they all ate and were satisfied."

One of the most satisfying things in life is to care about people. Everyone gets to partake of the goodness of God when people are cared for. We all have five loaves and two fish. In our eyes, that kind of care and love for someone isn't enough. Well it isn't if you don't open your heart. But as soon as you do, Jesus is blessing what you give, and breaking it wide open to increase it. The multiplication starts to happen with the opening of the heart. All that was paid for on the cross is a free gift to us now. It's a free gift to them. We don't have to go buy it somewhere else and go into the village to get it. It's freely given. A life, a beautiful one, already paid for it all. Listen:

"Ho! Every one who thirst, come to the waters;
And you who have no money come, buy and eat.
Come, buy wine and milk without mony and without cost.
Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And delight yourself in abundance.
Incline your ear and come to Me.
Listen that you may live...

And let him return to the Lord
And He will have compassion on him..."


The man who is saying all of this has healing in His wings - He is Almighty God, Prince of Peace, Eternal Father, Wonderful Counselor! Imagine thousands upon thousands with all the needs, hurts and problems there to deal with, and to boot, they are hungry. Sound familiar? Do you ever see situations like this, or lives like this, or communities or cities like this? And Jesus says, not only to them, but to me, to all of us, "You give them something to eat." "They don't need to go away."



To be continued...